The DOOM2 Tyson Collection

This page was created and is maintained by
George Bell (gibell@uswest.com)
Version 4:May 20th, 1998

Table of contents:

What's New??

Not much, really. In the last 11 months I've received only 4 faster recordings. Andy Kempling has joined the ranks of Cyberdemon punch-out pros with a faster recording of 32. Since Peo Sjoblom released his Tyson GM Collection (Tyson with -fast monsters), I decided to remove all GM recordings from the base collection (some links remain in the "Comments"). If you think normal Tyson is tough, check out some of the GM recordings. You can download Peo's GM collection (26 of 32 levels) by clicking here.

What is Tyson style??

Tyson style is killing every monster in a DOOM level in Ultra-Violence using only the weakest weapons: fist, berserk fist, chainsaw, and pistol.

This collection was inspired by the Doom Honorific Title of Doom2 Tyson (D2T). Under DHT5, 7 people earned this difficult title. Under the newer DHT6 format (same rules except no new level required), 8 people have earned the title (as of 5/98). Interestingly, only one person has earned the title under both DHT5 and 6: Patrick Martin. See the DHT5 Hall of Fame or the DHT5 D2T directory to download DHT5 exams, and the DHT6 D2T directory to download DHT6 exams.

Daniel Lindgren (aka "Demonlord") took the Tyson concept to a whole new difficulty level with his "GM Tyson" recordings, which are Tyson recordings with -fast monsters. See Peo Sjoblom's GM Tyson collection for these awesome recordings.

What's so great about Tyson style??

I think there are two styles that show the greatest skill of a DOOM singles player: Nightmare and Tyson. Nightmare skill is really quite a different skill from Tyson. I like to watch Nightmare lmps also but there are two reasons I have created this Tyson collection:

  1. Finishing a hard level in Nightmare involves some luck. A difficult nightmare lmp is usually the end product of tens, maybe even hundreds of attempts. What you see in the lmp is a great performance, but often a lucky one too (mostly in the respawn pattern). Tyson lmps are so long luck isn't usually a big factor. When you are 30 minutes into a recording and at 1% health, it takes great confidence in your skill to punch out a Demon (non-berserk), as in Mike Pratt's classic Tyson recording of level 06.
  2. The second reason for creating this collection is that it doesn't already exist. Some of these lmps are scattered over the cdrom archives, but many are not. There is already a rather complete Nightmare collection in the COMPET-N/doom2/nmare directory.

What's not so great about Tyson style??

A lot of people think the lmps are boring, and certainly many of the D2T recordings are not very action packed. There was no time constraint for D2T recordings, and some of the them are over an hour long (with myself the worst offender :-). In this collection I have always selected the fastest recording of each level, and now most of the levels have now been done Tyson style in about the time your average player would take using all the weapons!! Consider these times: 05 in 6:02, 09 in 11:55 or 22 in 3:37.

How were these recordings selected??

The fastest recording was selected among all recordings of that level. However a slower recording may be listed if it is in a harder style, such as fist only.

This didn't start out as a competition (just a collection), but if you are serious about beating these, see the rules (with humor).

Playback tips

The Collection:

The following table summarizes all the lmps in this collection. If you click on a level number (first column), it will download the fastest lmp. The "Rating" column now reflects the DHT6 ratings (done by Patrick Martin). The "Style" column refers to the rules adhered by in the recording. Normal means usual Tyson style. Some of the recordings up the difficulty further by fist only, or by not taking an invulnerability. 26 of these levels have also been completed GM style (fast monsters). The 6 that have not been completed have this listed in the "Comments" section.

File name of the recordings is of the form: ty(map number)-(time in mmss).lmp. However, the dash is eaten up for recordings longer than 9:59, and maps with -fast monsters start with "tg".

You can download all the lmps in this collection (one recording of each level, 31 recordings, 812KB zipped -> 3.9MB uncompressed) by clicking below. If you want to view more than two of these recordings, this is the way to do it. There are some nifty bat files included to make playback easier, you won't have to remember the file names.

Download entire collection (tysoncol.zip~.8MB)

Level DHT6
Rating 		Bsrk Pk? First lmp by This lmp by Style Run Time Comments
01 Easiest No Unknown Andy Kempling Chainsaw Only 0:54 This level is trivial Tyson style.
02 Medium No Unknown Daniel Lindgren Normal 6:10 This level has been upgraded to medium for DHT6, and it's a hard one to do fast.
03 Easy No Unknown Daniel Lindgren Normal 3:16 This one is easier than one might think, even GM style.
04 Medium No Alvin Chee Patrick Martin Normal 7:43 This is a hard one to do fast, especially the start. It it easier (and faster) to collect the bullets at the end and then go back to shoot Imps.
05 Medium Yes Unknown Daniel Lindgren Normal 6:02 This level has become a classic, here done so fast you have to see it to believe it!
06 Hard No! Mike Pratt Daniel Lindgren Normal 19:21 A nightmare if you are addicted to the Berserk pack! I also still like the original by MGP (45:34)
07 Hardest Yes Daniel Lindgren Daniel Lindgren Normal 1 hour
7 min 		Punching a horde of Mancubi is no easy task, but it pales in the face of the near-impossible Arachnotron punch out. This is probably the hardest lmp in this collection, but also the most boring. Timedemo a must after the first 15 minutes. I think there is one 10 minute section where not a single punch scores. Has not been done GM style.
08 Medium No Jonathan Hoof Daniel Lindgren Normal 11:24 Doing this one fast requires luck in the Cyberdemon room.
09 Medium Yes Anton Magleli Daniel Lindgren Normal 11:55 If you thought the 17 minute lmp was fast, check out this one!
10 Medium Yes Daniel Lindgren Daniel Lindgren Normal 20:59 Daniel has found a fast start to this one.
11 Hard No Daniel Lindgren Daniel Lindgren Normal 31:43 Remember being scared out of your skin by your first Arch-Vile? Watch as Demonlord (non-berserk) punches the pathetic creature to death! Has not been done GM style.
12 Hard Yes Patrick Martin Daniel Lindgren Normal 30:33 Original recording by PBM (1h5m)
13 Medium Yes Daniel Lindgren Daniel Lindgren Normal 11:18 Some lost souls are left in this recording, but not deliberately.
14 Medium No Patrick Martin Daniel Lindgren Normal 11:03 Revenant punched out (non-berserk).
15 Hard Yes Daniel Lindgren Poe Sjoblom Normal 18:36 Even faster recording of this huge and difficult level. Peo has done this GM style, calling it "the hardest recording I've ever done" (tied with TNT map 14 in NM).
16 Hard Yes Daniel Lindgren Esko Koshimaa Normal 16:35 A classic Tyson level, very few bullets but lots of open space for monster-monster battles! Perhaps my favorite Tyson recording of all time is Daniel Lindgren doing this level with fast monters, fist only and no invulnerability DL (32:54).
17 Medium Yes Anton Magleli Daniel Lindgren Normal 16:31 You won't be bored watching this one! First recording by AVM (30:28).
18 Easy Yes Jonathan Hoof Daniel Lindgren Normal 7:28 A classic level for starting monster battles. This recording is fist only except for the first 5 seconds.
19 Easy Yes Alvin Chee Daniel Lindgren Normal 11:00 This looks more like a speed run than a Tyson lmp!
20 Hard Yes Patrick Martin Daniel Lindgren Normal 10:52 The Arch-Viles are actually the least of your problems with this one. Has not been done GM style.
21 Medium No Patrick Martin Daniel Lindgren Normal 9:50 This level was thought to be impossible until the telefrag possibilities were realized.
22 Medium Yes Mike Pratt Daniel Lindgren Normal 3:37 Who would have thought it could be done this fast! Original recording by MGP (24:22).
23 Hard Yes Daniel Lindgren Daniel Lindgren Normal 10:09 If you think this is easy, check out Daniel Lindgren's recording with fast monsters DL (42:27).
24 Easy Yes Mike Pratt Daniel Lindgren Normal 12:40 Another mad dash for the berserk pack!
25 Hard No Patrick Martin Daniel Lindgren Normal 13:06 Daniel found an easier way to do the ending here. PBM's fastest (17:29) has a gripping ending, finishing at 1% health!
26 Hard No Daniel Lindgren Daniel Lindgren Normal 27:55 Really tough with no berserk. Great Imp-Caco battle started in this one. Lots of Cacos at the end, the last couple must be telefragged. Has not been done GM style.
27 Hard Yes Patrick Martin Daniel Lindgren Normal 22:06 A big level with lots of angry monsters. But at least there is a berserk.
28 Hard Yes George Bell Daniel Lindgren Normal 9:22 The 10 minute barrier has now been broken on this one! Many people have now recorded this one, you need luck at the start and then skill at punching out revenants to do it fast. Fastest fist only recording by AVM (15:55) .
29 Hardest Yes Daniel Lindgren Daniel Lindgren Normal 47:01 You can see how hard this one is by the health conservation tactics and the fact that almost every med-kit is used. It's too bad one can't just watch the final 5 minutes, when the Cyberdemon is killed by fist in the small exit room. Has not been done GM style, probably never will be.
30 Hardest Yes Uncomp. Uncomp. . . Impossible by construction.
31 Easy Yes Unknown Daniel Lindgren Normal? 5:12 This level is quite different fist only, a bit more of a challenge (but even so I think this is the worst DOOM2 level).
32 Easy or
Medium 		Yes Terry Dunphy Andy Kempling Fist only,
No invuln 		2:35 Andy convinced Frank to upgrade this one to Medium, then knocked almost a minute off the record! Patrick has a different style, check it out in PBM (7:20) . Remarkably, with fast monsters fist only is still possible (see Peo's GM collection)!

Other recordings mentioned in comments are usually in D2T exams. If not, if they exist on cdrom I have put in links to their locations.

This collection may be updated every couple of months, if anyone can beat Daniel!

Current standings

I'm not going to go as far as Simon Widlake of COMPET-N with an elaborate point scheme, but here is a table of who has the most recordings in this collection:

Name DHT
Initials 		First Level
Recordings 		Fastest
Recordings
Daniel Lindgren DL 8 26!
Patrick Martin PBM 6 1
Andy Kempling ARK 0 2
Peo Sjoblom PS2 0 1
Esko Koshimaa (none) 0 1
Mike Pratt MGP 3 0
Anton Magleli AVM 2 0
Alvin Chee AVC 2 0
Jonathan Hoof JRH 2 0
Terry Dunphy TMD 1 0
George Bell GIB 1 0